My latest article on the country:
Tunisia's President replaces his Prime Minister amid stark economic
difficulties
Tunisian
President Kais Saied sacked his Prime Minister Najla Bouden without explanation
on Tuesday night. He immediately replaced her with former central bank
executive Ahmed Hachani, tasked with overcoming the "colossal"
economic challenges in the North African country.
President Kais Saied
"terminated the functions" of his Prime Minister Najla Bouden,
who had been the first woman to head a government in Tunisia.
The news was disclosed by a press
release and a video released by the presidency shortly before midnight.
No official explanation was given
for dismissing Bouden.
However, several Tunisian media
outlets highlighted that Saied was displeased over a number of shortages,
particularly of bread in state-subsidised bakeries.
Saied immediately appointed in her
place Ahmed Hachani, who until now worked at the Tunisian central bank.
He studied law at the University of
Tunis, where Saied taught, but is unknown to the general public.
"Colossal
challenges"
The main reason for this sudden
change seems to be the very bleak state of the country's economy.
During the short ceremony, the
president stressed that "there are colossal challenges that we must
overcome with a solid and strong will, in order to protect our homeland, our
state and social peace".
In recent days, the government
held several meetings, including some with the president and ministers,
over the problem of shortages of subsidised bread in several regions.
Saied recently said "bread is a
red line for Tunisians", and, according to media, he fears a repeat
of the bread riots that left 150 dead in 1984 under Habib Bourguiba, the first post- independence
leader of Tunisia.
The country has been facing sporadic
shortages of flour, semolina, sugar, coffee and cooking oil for months, linked,
according to economists, to the requirement that suppliers be paid in advance,
which Tunisia has had great difficulty doing.
Needing
international support
The North African country is also
saddled with a crippling public wage bill from a civil service that employs
680,000 of its 12 million citizens.
It is struggling with debt of around
80 percent of GDP and seeking foreign aid.
Last October, Tunisia reached a
tentative deal for a $1.9 billion bailout from the International
Monetary Fund
(IMF) that would require the country to undertake a "comprehensive
economic reform programme".
The IMF has also called for
legislation to restructure more than 100 state-owned firms, holding monopolies
over many parts of the economy and, in many cases, heavily indebted.
But hopes of securing the IMF
bailout appear slim as President Kais Saied has repeatedly rejected
"foreign diktats that will lead to more poverty".
Besides being heavily indebted,
growth is around two percent while poverty levels are rising and unemployment very
high at 15 percent.
Political
crisis
These serious economic difficulties
in Tunisia are compounded by a political crisis it's been going through
for two years.
Bouden had been appointed by Saied
on 11 October 2021, after the president granted himself sweeping powers on 25
July by dismissing his then-prime minister and suspending parliament.
He also amended the constitution
after a referendum in the summer of 2022, greatly reducing the powers of
parliament, and granting the president's office unlimited powers.
Since his power grab, Saied has
ruled by decree.
A new assembly took office in
the spring of 2023 following legislative elections at the end of 2022, but
these were boycotted by the opposition parties and shunned by voters with a
turnout rate of around 10 percent.
The clampdown didn't stop there.
Since last February, about 20
opposition, media and business figures have been imprisoned in a wave of
arrests that included Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamist-inspired
Ennahdha party and one of the president's highest-profile critics.
Ennahdha had dominated coalitions
from the 2011 democratic revolution that culminated in the downfall of dictator
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and kicked off the Arab Spring uprisings across the
region.
They were all accused of
"plotting against state security", Saied personally calling them
"terrorists".
Amnesty International has labelled in a recent report the roundup a "politically motivated witch hunt".
Read more about Tunisia on RFI English:
https://www.rfi.fr/en/tag/tunisia/
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